Bruce Arians: Opportunity with Cards “is special”

Arizona Cardinals new head coach Bruce Arians said he would have to “have a heck of a feeling” about an organization to leave his post as offensive coordinator of the Indianapolis Colts.

The Cardinals apparently were a franchise that gave Arians that feeling as he accepted the job the Thursday evening. Arians agreed to a four-year contract with the Cardinals with a team option for a fifth year.

“There’s so much excitement. The more I got to meet with everyone here, the more excited I got about the opportunity and knew it was the right fit for me. Like I said, it was going to take something special for me to leave Indianapolis and this is special,” Arians said, via the team’s official website.

Arians served as interim head coach of the Colts for most of last season as head coach Chuck Pagano battled leukemia. The Colts improved from 2-14 in 2011 to 11-5 this season and a Wild Card berth. Now Arians gets the chance to have a head coaching job all to his own.

“I never thought it was going to come and I appreciate it so much,” Arians said. “I’ll give it every single thing I have and the passion and the energy that I bring to this is something I love to do and we’ll do it every single day as hard as we can do it.”

It’s funny that the steelers fans seemed so happy to get rid of this guy a year ago. All we heard was watch, all you’ll get is bubble screens, and dump off passes. Well, guess what, Pittsburgh didn’t make the playoffs, the colts did, with a rookie quarterback, and an interim head coach. Good luck Arians, maybe you can get the max out of fitz, just like old Reggie! Arizona got them a winner!!!!

I’m a 6th years Cardinals season ticket holder. Glad we got a guy who seems to understand offense, though I am not sure losing Ray Horton for Todd Bowles is going to be worth it. If we see a decline in the Defense next season we will all know why.

This is my favorite hire so far this offseason. who woulda thought the Cards would make the smartest hire. He can lead a team as he showed last season. Get him a QB and a decent rb and this team could be a wildcard contender at least next year. I bet Fitz is throwin a party right now

Is it just me, or is it totally bizarre that Arizona fires one ex-Steelers offensive coordinator as head coach, only to replace him with another ex-Steelers offensive coordinator?

jimiinpa says:Jan 18, 2013 1:35 AM

yeah special , one of the worst owenerships in the nfl , going back to St. Louis days. the bidwell’s can always be counted on to make the worst moves. i truily feel bad for the Airz. fanbase and anyone who has to work for them.

Hate to see us lose Horton, but look how hes going about it! Pushing his way out throwing a fit? Speaks to his maturity level. Horton isnt ready to be a HC! If he was he would have been hired by one of the eight teams that were looking for a new one. Cards gotta do whats best for the Cards. Not Ray Horton.

ty46 says:Jan 18, 2013 2:42 AM

Arians will be fired after 1 or 2 years. Cards have no OL and QB and now no DC… Arians’ system gets his QBs killed even behind better OL.

They replace 1 steeler oc with another steeler oc. i don’t know how i think about that.

jharmon64 says:Jan 18, 2013 5:04 AM

Huge mistake for the Cardinals.

And now the DC is gone too.

Yikes.

wayne1693 says:Jan 18, 2013 5:14 AM

Bruce is an amazing guy, who led the Colts through an incredible & emotional season. I can’t think of anyone who is more deserving of this opportunity, & if he is not Coach-of-the-Year…the basic definition of the term needs to be re-written.

This is a bad lapse in judgment. I’d much rather see Bruce help lead the Colts even further the next year or two, then take a job with an actual quarterback on the roster. The Cardinals job is a no-win situation.

I would like to know what has changed in AZ to be excited about? Hopefully a new young GM and open up there pocket book I will believe it when I see it. I think a chance at being a head coach will have at least 3 years to prove himself then there is the weather and lifestyle AZ VS. INDY

Wait till he meets the fans…whatever “excitement” he thought he felt, he may discover to fleeting as this fan base is tougher than any in the league. However, this will, no doubt, be temporary as Bidwill trys to get the egg off his face and find a younger “football guy” who is connected. Bidwill’s interpersonal clumsiness has cost the Cardinals their defensive coordinator, who the fans AND players respected and were fond of and if Goodell wants a team in LA, the Cards are ripe for the taking as Arizona fans are fed up with Bidwill!

This was the worst job on the market! A team that is at the bottom of the pack of an established NFC West. Offense that was the league’s worst, and a team where there is no apparant QB now or in the future including the upcoming draft!

Bad, bad, bad job! Should stayed with the Colts and waited for a better oppurtunity!

dprouse says:Jan 18, 2013 10:13 AM

I’m torn on this one. Arians is an excellent coach who has clearly paid his dues, but at the same time I can’t shake the feeling that Ray Horton got shafted. I also hate the fact that not one minority candidate was hired for any of the eight openings.

He’s deserved this chance after the job he did with the Colts, taking over the coaching job unexpectedly. Of course, he doesn’t have a franchise QB either.

olcap says:Jan 18, 2013 11:14 AM

This guy isn’t a great, or even good coach. The Cardinals will find this out soon enough.

Look, the guy stepped in as interim coach with Indy, who just happened to have Andrew Luck as their new QB. That doesn’t speak to his caoching ability, it speaks to being in the right place at the right time. It just creates this sense that he can do more than he actually can, which isn’t much.

What many seem to forget is he wasn’t a good fit for Pittsburgh. His play calling in the red zone was terrible/predictable and pretty much ended up in a FG. I’m not saying Haley is the best replacement, but the offense was producing until Ben got hurt vs. KC.

Not to take away what Arians did but he walked into a great situation. Colts were awesome in 2010, lost Peyton and stunk on 2011, then had the best replacement possible in 2012 (the #1 pick in the draft). So it’s not as if Arians turned around a program that was in shambles. The Colts lost the one player they could not lose, the player they put all their money towards, and they lost that player for a whole season. All that offense needed was a good QB and they got a great one.

Still, this has little to do with him being successful at head coach. As we seen, some are better coordinators than coaches (LeBeau for instance) and some are better HC’s than coordinators. We’ll see which one Arians fits into.